MSM Finally Concedes Defeat On Yemen, Ceases Blackout Of Coverage

Last month, an article by Fair.org went viral in republications by popular alternative media outlets ranging from Salon to Zero Hedge to Alternet to Truthdig, among many others. The article was initially titled “ACTION ALERT: It’s Been Over a Year Since MSNBC Has Mentioned US War in Yemen”, but many subsequent republications went with variations on the more attention-grabbing headline, “MSNBC has done 455 Stormy Daniels segments in the last year — but none on U.S. war in Yemen”.

The centerpiece of the article was the following graphic, which I saw shared on its own many times in my social media feeds:

This is of course outrageous, but because of how media coverage works, mainstream attention was never drawn to the problem. It hasn’t been a totalmedia blackout, but because it only turns up in mainstream media reports every once in a while with little if any emphasis being placed on who is behind the devastation, it occupies a very peripheral place in western consciousness. The average American would probably be able to tell you that some parts of their government appear to be concerned about Russia, Syria, Iran and North Korea, because those rival nations have been the subject of intense mass media coverage, but if you asked them about Yemen you’d likely be told something like “I think there’s some kind of humanitarian crisis there?”, if anything.

This has all changed in the last few days. Suddenly, the atrocities being inflicted upon the people of Yemen are being pushed into mainstream attention by the mass media outlets which have been ignoring them for more than three years. The Washington Post editorial board published an op-edtitled “End U.S. support for this misbegotten and unwinnable war”. CNN did some actual, real journalism for a change with a viral exclusive documenting which American war profiteers were behind some of the more devastating Saudi bombings. And yes, MSNBC finally did cover the violence in Yemen, breaking its year-long silence to report on a US-supplied bomb which killed 40 children with such urgent condemnation of those responsible you’d never know they’d been consistently ignoring such incidents which have been going on for years. Now politicians and celebrities everywhere are shoving the horror of their government facilitating the slaughter of innocents into mainstream attention.

What’s interesting here is that nothing at all has changed except for the coverage. US-supplied bombs have been dropping on marketplaces, hospitalsand funerals and slaughtering civilians in far more deadly incidents for years, and the US has also been providing extensive assistance to Saudi airstrikes, as well as attacking Yemeni targets directly. The only thing that has changed is that now it’s being reported with an urgency and volume that is appropriate for such a horrific incident instead of an occasional low-profile mention with little or no mention of responsibility.

Nobody with their eyes open believes that the mainstream media have just suddenly developed a conscience and now deeply care about the mass murder of Middle Eastern civilians. So why the change? If you ask some of the Trump supporters I’ve seen responding to the shift, it’s because their president can now be unfairly blamed for a military campaign which began long before he took office. But that doesn’t really hold water, does it? I mean, the aforementioned year in which MSNBC didn’t cover Yemen took place entirely during this administration, and every American with cable TV knows that MSNBC markets itself as the anti-Trump network. If they’d wanted to use Yemen as another angle from which to criticize this administration they would have done so, instead of not doing so at all. The entirety of mainstream media have been grossly neglecting this issue up until the last week despite having every opportunity to condemn Trump for it.

For the record, while we’re on the subject, I personally don’t much care if Trump gets all the blame for the Yemen catastrophe at this point. I’ve spent 2017 and 2018 fighting the insane corporate liberal notion that all American depravity began in January of last year, but at this point I’m happy with literally anything that just ends the death and devastation. A year into the war, the 30-year CIA veteran Bruce Riedel said that “if the United States of America and the United Kingdom tonight told King Salman that this war has to end, it would end tomorrow, because the Royal Saudi Airforce cannot operate without American and British support.” If using this as an opportunity to attack Trump creates the necessary political pressure to end the bombings, blockades, starvation and disease that is killing untold thousands of Yemeni civilians, then fine, whatever, I’m all for it.

But again, from what I’m seeing right now I don’t believe that this is about Trump. Not directly anyway. From what I can see right now, I think what we are witnessing is a clear instance in which alternative media successfully caused the establishment to lose control of the narrative on an important issue.

In the US, criticism of Saudi Arabia is nearly as taboo as criticism of Israel. As we saw explained in a leaked State Department memo last year, it is standard US policy to use human rights abuses as a bludgeon with which to attack rival governments, while sweeping the atrocities committed by allies under the rug. Because of its lucrative petrodollar deal with the US, and because its opaque and unaccountable monarchy makes it capable of nefarious maneuvers to advance geopolitical agendas that an ostensible democracy would have a hard time getting away with, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one of America’s most important allies. And the plutocrat-owned media, whose controllers have a vested interest in protecting the establishment upon which their kingdoms are built, consistently fall right in line with that same State Department policy.

This, and the fact that the control of a key strategic region is at stake, is why we’ve been seeing the Saudi war crimes in Yemen and the US facilitation thereof downplayed for years by the mass media. And they would surely remain downplayed indefinitely were it possible.

But it wasn’t possible. The story kept getting pushed toward mainstream consciousness year after year, and eventually the fact that an outlet which upholds itself as the flag bearer of Trump’s opposition has been completely ignoring this administration’s facilitation of war crimes was made viral. At a certain point a Dem-voting audience which is being told day in and day out that Trump presents a unique and unprecedented level of danger to the world will lose trust in the outlets which market themselves to that demographic if they refuse to make a big deal about the fact that this administration is helping tyrants murder busloads of children.

For this reason, western mainstream media have been forced to finally report on the cruelty being inflicted upon the people of Yemen by Saudi Arabia and its allies in order to avoid losing credibility. The story got out, and the story about their lack of coverage of that story got out, and now they’re all reporting on it like they’ve been doing so this entire time. Which, if it continues, will make it very difficult for the US/UK/Saudi war machine to retain the consent of the governed for its mass slaughter.

In my opinion, we can safely call this a win for alternative media. The voices who aren’t beholden to the empire and its geopolitical agendas refused to let this story die, and eventually succeeded in overtaking the dominant narrative. Not because media-controlling oligarchs like Brian L Roberts and Jeff Bezos gave them permission to, but because unauthorized truth was spoken and carried by many ordinary people into mainstream consciousness via Facebook shares, Twitter retweets and speaking out loud and proud wherever possible. A people’s information battle was fought and won by the people.

If things go as I am hoping they will go, we will see more and more such populist hijackings of dominant narratives in the future, and ultimately a failure of the oligarchs to continue manufacturing consent for their omnicidal, ecocidal, Orwellian agendas. We will have to be aggressive, we will have to be creative, and we will have to be interesting enough to catch the eye of the casual citizenry, but the fact that trust in the mass media is at an all-time low and our ability to network and share information is at an all-time high combines with the fact that we have truth on our side to create some very exciting possibilities. I find this all very encouraging.

MSM “Is” the Propaganda Ministry of the Globalist Western Regimes. The technical term is Fascism, blatant collusion between Government and Corporations to cement a dictatorship. Google, Facebook, Yahoo, etc are to the Western Deep State what Messerschmitt, Krupp, Volkswagen etc were to the 3rd Reich.

Michał Hunicz

Eh I don’t think so. Hitler (and Lenin too) was sponsored by the Wall Street, not German corporations.

al quaida

You think wrong. Hitler was sponsored by US AND German corporations.

potcracker2588

and were do these german corporations get their loans from?which banks morron? jewish banks!!!! or are their others

al quaida

Moron is spelt with one “r”. Dick.

seawolf

he probably needs education, he got it all wrong lol

Tommy Jensen

Who put their money in Jewish banks and Jewish pockets in the first place???

potcracker2588

learn history..germany was bankrupt in the 1920´s…didnt u go to school? a loaf of bread cost in germany in 1922 about 2 biilion mark(that was a cart full of wothrless paper money)……..they came back because the JEWS sponsored them..just as the jews sponsor USA or Russia,donkey

Tommy Jensen

What about Hitler, German Corporations and Queen Elizabeth sponsored the Jews?

potcracker2588

spot on…..but be more precise……they were sponsored by JEWS!!!!

Brother Thomas

Enough already. You sound like an agent provocateur from the counter messaging branch of the hasbara.

Andreas Mikkelsen

Better just block the agent. It is much better and calmer.

You can call me Al

Actually I think you will find that Hitler was sponsored by London ie the British – we only went tits up after WWII.

Tommy Jensen

Correction: …, not INNOCENT German corporations. All Germans were innocents and the goyim Hitler and Lenin were kicked around by Wall Street Jews as Budweiser cans.

Davki

You’re comparing apples with oranges. Google etc. are mass media manipulators, information gatherers and spy agencies. Messerschmidt etc. were manufacturers. They do different things. Totally. Compare rather Lockhead Martin etc. The radio (der Volksempfänger) and (in some little part) television are more aptly to be compared, as well as papers and mass events. Hitler was supported by some part of the German industry, especially Krupp until he became Reichskanzler. There were some private financiers as well. Most of the money by far (Germany was rather broke back then) came from Wall Street, the British and yes, even the French, the Dutch, Belgians. If I were to pick one book on this, summing these things up, it would be “Conjuring Hitler” by G Preparata.

Felix D (TUPPERWARE PARTY)

I’ll look into it. Thanks.

Hisham Saber

Also, western MSM, Google, YouTube , Facebook et al are all Jewish run and owned.

That is very telling.Theses nefarious Jews have the western masses enamored and distracted by Royal Weddings, strippers who screwed Trump, etc. Its ‘ bread and circus ‘ for the sheeple, while they carry on with their diabolical plan to subjugate and subvert the world. Its in their Talmud, its all there.

Concrete Mike

Hehe tupperware party….inthough we were the only rednecks that said that…maybe were the same rednecks too lol

Felix D (TUPPERWARE PARTY)

I wanted to jump on the (PARTY) bandwagon. I might have taken (LYNYRD SKYNYRD PARTY) :D

potcracker2588

I quote the last sentence of this article:

“I find this all very encouraging.”

man , dude, is LSD having a comeback? just a filthy, morally degenerate human beiing can call anything in regards to the holocaust in Jemen ENCOURAGING!!! wtf are u taking asshole? wtf is encouraging? that after years of torture,mass murder and theft there are 2 or 3 ARTICLES in some bs newspaper that 1 in amillion reads??? thats encouraging?? maybe I should drop by your house, rape your women, behead the rest.and if I make the news, thats what to you? encouraging???

You’d be surprised the effect that celebrities can have with regards to opening the otherwise uninterested masses eyes to these atrocities which is just the sort of pressure necessary to put on the government to get them to cut ties with the Saudi led coalition and their war campaign. So calm down and put in a new tampon, yeah?

Concrete Mike

Who would have thought that all along the houthis were supported by ace ventura pet detective and not iran.

Hi Potcracker! Do you mind telling me who wrote this and in which publication pleez?

Ivan Freely

If you look at the beginning of the article:

“Written by Caitlin Johnstone; Originally appeared at her blog”

Concrete Mike

I see something more sinister at play here. Pardon my cynicism, in every news peice they always throw a turd at iran. Here is my question: can the media spin this to blame iran in order to esacalate? Is this a distraction before the CW trick in idlib in order to attempt to incriminate iran?

Am i nuts?? Lol

Pave Way IV

The Yemen war Iran backing the Houthis spin has been an MSM flop so far, Mike.

The more attention that’s drawn to Yemen, the more people recognize Saudi Arabia/UAE’s evil land and power-grabbing motives, and the more people recognize the Houthis/Ansar Allah as the good guys trying to defend their country’s sovereignty. The MSM has reported just the opposite, of course, and attempted to demonize Iran because they’re ‘backing the terrorists’. But enough of the public is exposed to news that refutes that narrative: they sense the US/Saudis/UAE are the bad guys in Yemen. Not a majority or even a significant number of people, but certainly enough to put the MSM in defensive mode. It’s too late to use Yemen as an ‘Evil Iran’ talking point when kids are waving around clearly-marked Paveway II guidance fins after a school-bus strike.

It’s just like the U.S. trying to demonize Russia for helping Syria. There’s enough people out there that understand that the U.S. is on the evil land/resource grabbing side with the Saudi Wahhabis, Israel and Turkey. Russia/Hezbollah/Iran are on the ‘good’ side with the Syrians. The MSM had to switch to defensive mode to explain U.S. presence there. Demonization blowback, I suppose. F’king neocon losers…

Concrete Mike

It doesnt take much study of the yemen issue to determine who is evil. Problem is our society is so fucking dumb( im dumb as fuck too i dont hide it), were so focused on materialism and instant gratification, that hardly anybody does the effort to find the truth anymore. Of course our hers behaviour has been programmed in us quite thoroughly, most people arent even capable of breaking through.

Anyways, are you implying that MBS is being set up to fail? Maybe the plan is to hang saudi out to dry, let them fuck themselves good, and swoop in after the fact and take it all?

Pave Way IV

The her’s behavior is likely from all the xenoestrogens in city water when sourced from major rivers (which means the sum of all treated sewage of every city released upstream). Water companies don’t like their customers to know that flocculants and chlorine cannot magically make pure water, just relatively clean and disinfected water. But I assume you meant herd behavior.

I don’t think MBS needs to be set up to fail – there’s plenty of factors working against him. He’s an al Saud crown prince of the Saudi Wahhabi empire. That means he already has a target painted on his back by extended royal family psychopaths, Wahhabi cleric psychopaths, Non-Wahhabi Sunnis and most Shia in and outside of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar royalty rivals and the odd foreign nation (or twenty) that just hate Saudi Arabia. Sucking up to Israel and the US isn’t earning him any praise from the Muslim world. And his psychopathic obsession with Iran isn’t really shared by his subjects. Few Saudis want to join their suck army now. War with Iran? F’ck that – they’ll move to Europe.

And let’s not forget the ‘old’ crown prince, Muhammad bin Nayef al Saud. He is still cozy with the UAE royals. He was the CIA’s favorite waterboy – probably still is. I might use a different characterization: they’re simply waiting for MBS to fail all by himself (maybe they’ll toss a few Wahhabi nutjob revolutionaries into the mix). For the time being – at least in CIA/UAE eyes – MBS serves a purpose. When he’s no longer useful, well… my guess is MBN somehow reappears for recycling and, surprise, becomes the ‘new’ crown prince.

Was it owing to this? Lockheed Martin’s #WorldPhotoDay Tweet Backfires August 20, 2018

‘…Lockheed Martin’s social media campaign backfired. The tweet followed reports that a Lockheed Martin 500-pound laser-guided MK 82 bomb was used in an attack on a school bus in Yemen that killed dozens of people, including children, earlier this month…

…Dear @LockheedMartin , you asked people to tweet “amazing photos of one of our products” (https://t.co/ni5dTEzG6N). Here it is : This is a fragment of YOUR bomb, a laser-guided MK 82, which #SaudiArabia used to kill 40 #Children in #Yemen last week https://t.co/8kmhPCyava pic.twitter.com/uFj3oxsO44

Time will tell but I wont underestimate the possibility of just MORE “War by Deception” which may be happening, by the Zionists

“Once bit,TWICE shy”

Garga

All good but based on the coordinated behaviour of MSM, my personal take is much darker than that.

I think it has nothing to do with Trump AND alternate media power. It is a “sales pitch”, nothing more. The ones controlling western politics know they can’t maintain close relations with Saudis anymore, not with the current image Saudis have in the world opinion. They decided Saudis need a complete overhaul and make-up to be presentable. Cue MbS with various PR campaigns (Are we forgetting his bizarre billboards all over London?).

In short, “the old” Saudi Arabia is bad, the new one embodied in MbS and his “reforms” are good. If I’m right, we are only a couple of month until his reign which will start by stopping bombing Yemen (this bloodshed is nowhere near end, there will be more death for the innocents until he put his royal arse on the throne), publicly and loudly fighting AQ and other Wahhabi terror groups (but not ISIS which is needed in central Asia) and pardoning activists condemned to beheading (notice the case of Israa al-Ghomgham, convicted to death without even the usual bogus terrorism charge). It will be a new Saudi Arabia, away from all the stains and wrong-doings and their supporters free of accusations and complains.

Gregory Casey

Wonderful except that is is Mohammed bin-Salman who is responsible for the entire Saudi War on Yemen. He is the Crown Prince who, as Saudi Minister for Defense was and remains responsible for the war in Syria but that was not enough for him. At a time when ISIS, together with HTS was in charge across vast swathes of Syria, his Imperial arrogance told him he should attack the Houthi of N Yemen while he persuaded (??) his cousin Mohammed bin-whatever in the Emirates to attack S Yemen in a pincer movement designed to wrest back control of the entire of Yemen’s Territory. Bin-Salman is responsible for the entire of the War in Yemen and (I say) personally responsible for the atrocities visited upon the Yemeni People ……. and all achieved using the vast array of Armaments purchased by the Saudis & Emirate over the course of the past 6 – 7 years – purchases that make these Kingdoms of the Dessert the 9th & 10th most powerful military powers in the world.

And yet ……. a so-called primitive People, the Houthi, have brought the Saudi-Emirati-Sudanese Alliance with US-UK-France to their knees. The Alliance blames Iran and complains that Iran has been shipping weaponry to the Houthi while our MSM conveniently forgets that Yemen has been blockaded by the Saudi-Emirates Coalition for the past (almost) 3 years and so ………. how could Iran, possibly have shipped Arms to the Houthi sufficient to bring the Coalition to their knees?? Simple really ……… the Houthi are far smarter than the bin-Salman Saudi-led Alliance and they have captured the Arms and Guns of the Coalition almost as fast as they can be manufactured in America, France and England while showing they could take Arms captured from the (former) Yemeni Army that were 20 years out of date and transform them into modern-day weaponry more than adequate to slay the Arabian Goats travelling in their iron-clad Camels.

Garga

Sure, I agree but for every one person who knows it there are thousands who don’t. Naturally this is aimed at them, not us.

Concrete Mike

Lol iron clad camels….some are made in canada….they wanted iron moose model but didnt want to pay, so we changes the hood, chopped the roof and put a 3l dodge engine in it…..they baught it. Dumbasses.

S Melanson

Well said

Rob

This is the end of US, UK, France and of their stoogies Israel, Saudi Arabia, UAE, ISIS and Al-Qaeda etc. Now the world will enjoy the destruction of US, UK, France and of their all stoogies. Now their business of barbarism will undoubtly shutdown.

frankly

I subscribe to Caitlin Johnstone’s blog. She really hits the nail on the head. This particular piece is pretty old. Has there been an increase in Yemen coverage or just a quick blip on the MSM radar? In other words was she right or just wishful thinking?

To me the use of titillation in MSM coverage is blatant, what a well designed word. The Stormy graph is so poignant.

Of course using a laser guided bomb to kill school kids gives us a window into a very real F.uk.us and co- defendants agenda. Yes there were mistakes involved. You call them your chain of command. I say, “Hey Assholes, Leave those Kids Alone!” All in all you’re just another turd in the pile.

If you can’t crash it into something evil, drop it on your hometown instead. If you are out of range take it back to the base and hit the chowhall. Hell sooner or later you are gonna commit suicide for all the fucked up shit you did. Ok hit the ammo dump instead, but for fuck’s sake leave those kids alone.

Hell they probably got a standing order to shoot down anything that flies back to base with ammo hanging.

Karim Al Ahamadi

I am being censored (once again) clearly and unjust on a certain website, in which you can share links of news with other intereseted. THey don’t like it if you expose the Zionists for example. If one knows or wants to suggest what I can do, Please let me know. If you are interested in doing this action yourself, comment on this or something else. It is very easy: you use a link to write the title of the article (or paste it) and you put the link of the article. then you submit. This costs almost no time or effort while it stays there and in some cases thousands or even hunders of thousands of people will view it. Since they are really upset about this, and my exposing replies to the Zionists in the comment section, the censored me. This made me realize the importance of this Media War once again.Please do join!

hvaiallverden

Sorry SF, my last one.

CAN YOU handle the truth, I wounder. Obcenitys, that is what the bloody pussyfooting alt-net is whining about this f….. days.

Yeah, I have nothing left but contempt, buhu grow some balls, and I dont even understand this, are we adult or what, do we have to write anything without using any kind of uh…. “ofensive” language incase an child acisdentally reads this and what, gets “molested” or traumatised by words, huh, words are words, if I punch you in the face that, that I understand, but words, is something else. I started this years ago, and I knew from expirience that the only way to crash an hegmony of their moronic and lousy propaganda was by what is now defined as “shock and awe”. I had to slam it thru, you know it, and so do they, I am more surpriced I am still alive, and I have had the Norwegian int. police in my house as far I know, 2 times, last time one of the brave norse Vikings defended them self against our cat, yeah, you have to be an “viking” to be scared by an domesticated animal like an cat. He….. vikings, oh yeah, how uh….. manly.

Like the Palestinian case, and then the scums of this earth, the Jews. Even you know I usually never attacks or throws anything against people whom have nothing to do with this, like the Wankees in general, but that acording to me done makes them inocent what so ever, that, gentlemen is an insult to any living thinking creature on this planet.

This war is ongoing because they can do it, period, in Norway the MSM twistes this to be, like the Palestinian cause, an fight between to equall parteners regarding what they have as an military force, and thats why in Norway, and this are so called Leftis/Commies witch they all are, like Sweden, everything own by the Tribe, ever god dammed news site is totally controlled by the Jews and thats an bloody fact. The attacks on this children is by large ignored, and if it is wrtien anything the MSM makes it to be an doubt, wether is was an Saudi-barbarian or even Houtis, without stating anything further, and wehn it comes to war crimes, they us the rest of whatever article they print to whine about Houtis been criminals them self. That, is how the cloud the reality on the ground, and feed the people with lies, the same perverted reality is what our MSM pimps every day about Palestina and Syria. Every f…. day, and no matter what, they even manage to squice Hamas into everything and so far its just the weather they dont aply that to, because that is Putins fault, hehe, Norway, you have no idea of how rotten that land is,and what hideous sick scums the Khazars are. Never forget this, Sweds and Europa. Khazars are the scum of this earth, Khazars are the real “jews”, and I wrote about that years before the scums admitted it, and now, they continue to lie, yeah, there is not an single f… pottery confirming anything abiout the nonsense the scums use as their History, ever word is bullshit.

Yeah, and people think Trump is different, no His not, the right have never cares about millions killed, never have and never will, thats why He can do what He wants, and nobody is going to do anything about it apart from going into totall denile. Now the “not the fake news” Trump whoms brain must be infested thru Syphilis, rotting slowly away, have managed to tell us, this time, its the Chines, that hacked the DNC server, hehe, and He whines about CNN. He is an freak show by him self, and the basket of stupid creeps aka wankees swallows every word. Etc, etc.

And again, what choice did the people of the banana republic have, Sanders, the lving prof on how rotten and corrupt an peson can be, and the even more rotten Corbyn, witch is an ZioNazi suck puppet, nothing else, and He will change nothing, the same as Russia is doing as we speak. I wounder how naive is it possible to be, huh, that, is what I know is our nemesis, that is what will kill us all, stupidity and cowardness.

What to do, the answer is simple, like the South-African issue, when every time an White person is killed, we should hang 10 blacks, every child killed in Yemen, we should hang ameriCunts anywhere on this planet, for every child, hang 10 wankkees. Burn down their amasades, hang thei represants, burn down their corps all over the world, etc, etc. But I know non of this will happen, and that, is due to cowardness, the ability to think our MSM is genuine is even more scary, look to Sweden and learn, to me, they are so coward they deserve everything, I have no synpmathy with them, balless creeps, just say the word Racist and they run and hide, why, Sweds do you care, the MSM will do what they can to alter and twist whatever anyway. I would recomen the Sweds to be honest, tell the MSM to go an f… them self and ignore them, they are our greatest enemy, never forget that Sweds, Norway is even worse, since the MSM is totally corrupt, and all of them run by Jews, Norway, the last Stalistic country on Earth, and where an little click is running/stealing everything.

Do tell me, Russians, why do you never learn, like the equally stupid Sweds and Finland is going down the drains as we speak. Wake up and start hunting, its self defence, its against the real enemy of Man, the UssA. Show no mercy, since no mercy was and is given. And hang the Poop. I take the blame, but just hang that sick f…. and burn down the Vaticane, with every one of them inside, the only way of getting ridd of the plauge, along with the zioNazis and the Wahabi scums.